When I was a teenager, I saw so many bands from Depeche Mode to Simple Minds; and as a youthful 20-something, I saw the Rolling Stones and even the Grateful Dead before Jerry Garcia died.
Every time I go to a concert I feel happy and exhilarated; like I’m having a party with anywhere up to 50,000 people I don’t know…and we are all having fun collectively, together as a group.
Concerts are easily my favourite pastime. Music brings me life, touches my soul, and live music brings even more. I have eclectic taste; loving music from the 70’s, 80’s to modern music to country music and even a little bit of Croatian music. My love of music stems back from my childhood where I can still see my dad dancing, singing and blaring his Croatian music (and he still does this today at almost 83 years old!).
PS – it’s been shown that music lowers cortisol – so all you ladies out there trying to control your adrenals – pay attention!
There was a time when I paused going to concerts. With young babies and young children at home, it wasn’t easy to get a babysitter to go out to the city to see a band.
As our kids got a bit older, we gathered our concert tribe. We started with Bon Jovi concerts. They were fun…we had something going here…
Then we moved on to Kenny Chesney every time he came into town. I will never forget that outdoor summer concert with my very pregnant friend, and our group scattered as the concert delayed due to a tornado. I believe it was August 2009. When that tornado cleared and Chesney finally came on stage, I’ll tell you that was a concert to remember!
Going to country music concerts became a passion for most of us moving forward. Especially the summer country concert scene. We now travel and make group trips around bands we want to see.
Over the last 10 years our concert tribe became very solid with a group of about 10 people, and sometimes more.
A recent study revealed that regular concert-going increased participants’ feelings of well-being by 21%. The study showed that after going to a concert, subjects’ self-worth and sense of closeness to others increased by 25% and mental stimulation jumped up by 75%! There are even studies that show that going to concerts regularly can increase your life span.
So what’s the deal with concerts? That feeling of community. That we are all in this together with one intent, and that is to have fun and enjoy the music; dance and sing; share in that unity.
I love that freedom at concerts to dance and sing as I want without anyone giving me a sideways look; like they do when I dance and sing in the car. Which I also do. Here are a few clips from some shows we’ve attended over the last decade (at least!) and just feel that energy – and maybe find your tribe and go to a concert or two this summer.